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The author gives credit to mentors that forced him to get serious about his behavior. Do you have a mentor? How have they helped you this far?

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Wes Moore, the author, credits and thanks his mentors, such as family members, friends, and Valley Forge, for helping him get on the right path in life. I think his mother and mentors at Valley Forge are the main reasons Wes got serious about his behavior and improved his lifestyle. He did not believe his mother would actually send him to military school, even if he was going down the wrong path. Military school forced him to change his behavior; with time, he wanted to behave correctly; it was not something that needed to be forced upon him anymore. Throughout my life, I have had different mentors. My most prominent life coaches have been my parents. My mom has mostly guided me through the human side of life, and my dad has advised and taught me about the academic and professional side. I learned what was right and wrong from a very early age, and it has helped me, especially now that I live by myself in a different country. My parents are also my biggest supporters and want the best ...
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What music played a special role in the other Wes Moore’s life? What role does music play in your life?

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For Wes Moore, hip-hop played a special role in his life because it made him feel understood; as he said, “It was a validator. He could relate to the people in his neighborhood as they still saw him as part of the group, and his Riverdale friends could understand him a little better. Wes Moore felt like he could relate to hip-hop, and it helped him feel less alone. Music means a lot to me. I do not think I could survive without it. Personally, I listen to music every day and depending on my mood, the style changes. One day, it can start with R&B and finish with a sad ballad, or it can go from pop to Latin. Music helps me go through life. Also, my entire career relies on music and how I can connect with it to create art. For example, classical music from Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev tells stories about swans and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Classical music plays a vital role in my life because I do not think ballet would exist the way we know it without it.  I listen to different...
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The author explains that the other Wes Moore’s life is different because he made different decisions when it came to life choices. Have you ever made a decision that you believe could have altered your life path?

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Looking back on my life, I have made many decisions that have altered my path, and I continuously make decisions that could alter it in the future. I could be in a very different place at the moment if I had made other decisions than the ones I chose. My decisions in the past have put me in a different country, away from my family, and working to fulfill a dream. The first thing that came to mind was declining a contract to work in ballet at 17. The director was offering me something I had always wanted, but I chose to leave the country to find better training before thinking about a job in this field. Then, I had to choose between the two schools that I had applied to and been accepted to: New York City or London.  Staying in Peru would have meant dancing in the mornings and attending a regular college while doing a “normal” career in the afternoons. I would have all the commodities such as a house with my own room, a maid who cooks and cleans for us, a driver or my own car, my fa...
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Are we products of our environment or products of our expectations?

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This is a question I had never thought of. At first, I was confused, but after watching Wes Moore talk about his life experiences and how he was brought up, many ideas about my own experiences started to flow. I think both words are connected when discussing a person’s upbringing. Your environment will most likely create your expectations. As Wes Moore said, our expectations of ourselves are expectations that others have placed on us, and that depends on our environment. I completely agree with his statement. I was born in a third-world country with a lot of crime, a highly ineffective political system, a terrible economic situation, and a poor education system. Although this was my home country, my environment was, and still is, the opposite of that. I am the oldest child of two well-known lawyers who studied and worked extremely hard to succeed in their careers and provide their family a better life than they knew as children. I was lucky to attend one of the country’s most prestigio...
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Is Higher Education Worth the Price?

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I believe that higher education is worth the price. Still, some changes should be made by universities and colleges to ensure students will not suffer from significant debts after graduating.  After reading Sanford J. Ungar’s article and David Foster Wallace’s Commencement speech, I think a liberal education is as essential as a career-specific education because broad and versatile knowledge comes with it. Students will learn how to think critically about different issues in the world and create their own opinions. This, in the long run, will help emphasize the importance of democracy. At the moment, I am a ballet student who at the same time is studying liberal arts, and I have learned about science, politics, grammar, economics, and the world in general, which has given me a well-rounded education even though I have not graduated yet.  The Ivory Tower documentary showed free online courses that were pre-recorded by professors. Online courses can work to help a student who ne...
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Is Fast Food the New Tobacco? Should the obesity issue be government regulated or remain personal responsibility?

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This week, I have learned a lot about this topic. First, I read David Zinczenko’s article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” then the Netflix documentary “What the Health,” and finally, Michelle Obama’s speech at the 101st NAACP Convention in 2010. In Zinczenko’s article, he talks about the fast-food industry being to blame for not warning children and parents about what their food has, but he also speaks about these people suing the companies for making them fat. This is where I first saw the comparison of fast food to tobacco. I have always hated the idea of smoking, and it sounded crazy to me when it was put next to something that I sometimes consume. I think that people should know better than to blame fast food restaurants for their weight gain as this type of food is also called “junk” food. It should be common knowledge that it is unhealthy. If we follow what Zinczenko says, there should be calorie and ingredient warnings in every meal we consume; this includes restaurants in general....
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Is Pop Culture Good For You?

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To answer this question correctly, I did some research. Pop culture is good for us to a certain extent, but why exactly? So many amazing things come from popular culture, but at the same time, it can negatively impact us, especially younger people nowadays. Let’s begin with the positive aspects of pop culture for society. Firstly, it can bring us together. When we go to a concert or watch a movie or a performance, we connect with other people who are experiencing the same thing. Sometimes, friendships are made through the same tastes in music or film genres. Social media has also magnified this as it is easier to access these events or contents if we cannot be there physically. I just watched the documentary of the song “We Are the World” on Netflix. This song is an example of how music connected the artists who sang it, and people from all over the world would sing it as an anthem, j...
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